Davis-Monthan Mid-Pacific Rescue

Airmen from the 48th, 79th, and 55th Rescue Squadrons at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, rescued two critically burned sailors aboard a Venezuelan fishing boat in the Pacific Ocean 3-7 May 2014. Two HC-130J Combat King II crews flew for nearly eleven hours where Guardian Angel teams parachuted near the boat. On 5 May, the two injured fishermen were hoisted off the skiff into two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters. The HH-60 crews and an HC-130J crew flew nine hours over the Pacific Ocean to recover the Guardian Angel team and the patients, and conducted four refueling operations on the roundtrip flight from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The patients were then flown on an HC-130J to NAS North Island, California, for treatment.